1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reduced calorie sandwich cookies, in which from 25 to 100 wt % of the fat or oil component in the filler is replaced by a low-moisture, non-oleagenous matrix comprising dry sugar, a high solids sugar syrup, an optional non-aqueous and non-oleagenous liquid, and one or more non-caloric or low-caloric bulking agents having a water absorptivity of 200% or less, wherein the filler has a total water activity of between 0.2 and 0.7.
2. Statement of Related Art
Sandwich cookies in which a sweet, cream-type filler is located between two base cakes (flat outer cookie layers or wafers) are well known, and typically contain two opposed chocolate or vanilla flavor outer base cakes with a chocolate, vanilla, or other flavor filler between them. The majority of calories in such a cookie is found not in the base cakes, but rather in the filler itself which typically contains 35 wt % of a solid fat such as lard or solidified (hydrogenated) liquid oil, and 65 wt % sugar, with minor additional amounts (less than 1%) of flavor, color, and other ingredients. Sandwich cookies of this type are very tasty and popular, but have a relatively high caloric value, mostly attributable to the solid fats or solidified oils contained in their filler, which also are undesirable ingredients because of their contribution to the generation of cholesterol within the body. A frequent solution to excess fat/oil is to replace it by sugar. However, this does not work in a sandwich cookie filler because when the fat/oil is reduced below about 25% the remaining amount of fat/oil is inadequate to bind the sugar into the fat/oil matrix, with resulting crumbling and loss of filler material.